Europe is “back in space”. MAI comments the launch of Ariane-6

Ariane-6, the newest heavy-lift rocket, developed by the European Space Agency, performed its debut flight. “With this first successful launch by Ariane 6, Europe has finally recovered its capacity to access space,” CNES CEO Philippe Baptiste said in a statement, commenting the news.

What does the Ariane-6 launch mean for Europe? Does this rocket have analogues? Head of the Iskra Student Space Design Bureau, senior lecturer of the Institute No. 6 “Aerospace” MAI Sergey Firsyuk provides the overview.

Sergey Olegovich, what was the point of launching the Ariane-6 rocket? Does it turn out to be a special event for Europe?

The European space program began in the 60s, and the participants were united by the aim of the independent access to space (not addressing to the USA), and the launch of Ariane-6 is the continuation of this trend. However, it is most unlikely that anything special is to be found in this rocket. Its predecessors were created according to the same scheme.

What is the difference between the Ariane-6 and other rockets from global manufacturers?

There are two concepts of managing a national launch vehicle park in the world. The first is the so-called universal series. It means creating a series of rockets of different dimensions on a unified design basis. The second is the concept of a “single” rocket (with this approach, of course, it must be heavy).

Universal series have been adopted here in Russia. For example, Angara and Soyuz. The first "unified" shuttle rocket. The American Falcon-9 rocket is very close to this concept.

Europeans have constantly changed concepts throughout their history. First, they launched the Ariane-1, a “single” rocket, then the Ariane-4, which belongs to the universal series and has six versions. After that, there was again a “single” Ariane-5 rocket. Ariane-6 refers to the concept of a universal series. Moreover, it is partially unified with the Vega light rocket. The hesitation of Europeans is related to the search for the most suitable option to launch in specific conditions. And these conditions have changed several times since the 70s.

Are there any competitive analogues of Ariane-6 in Russia and the world?

Functionally, there are many analogues. For example, in terms of the load capacity, it is similar to the Russian Angara-5. Speaking about foreign analogues, the Ariane-6 is quite comparable to the American Falcon-9 and Vulcan. There are also Japanese, Chinese, and Indian equivalents. As for the attractiveness in the launch services market, theoretically, the Ariane-6 should be better than its predecessor as far as the cost is concerned. However, the specifics of the market are such that any new rocket will have problems until it hits some positive accident-free statistics.

Falcon-9 is putting a lot of pressure on the launch market right now. This rocket has more than 100 launches per year. But, as you know, not everyone can afford or is willing to go to Elon Musk.